Iran’s VP Says US Ban On Zarif To Close Door On Diplomacy
An Iranian vice president warned that any US sanction targeting the foreign minister of Iran would block the road to diplomacy and further lay bare the falsehood of Washington’s calls for negotiations with Tehran.
In an interview with ICANA, Iran’s Vice President for Parliamentary Affairs Hossein Ali Amiri decried the White House’s plan to blacklist Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, saying, “Imposing a ban on the top figure of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s diplomacy proves the falsehood of the American claims more than ever.”
Iran’s foreign minister is in charge of the country’s diplomatic contacts and foreign policy, Amiri said, adding that imposing sanctions on Zarif will close the road to diplomacy.
He also slammed the recent US sanctions on top Iranian political and military officials as a sign of Washington’s “confusion, frustration, inability and lack of understanding of the Iranian society.”
The fresh US sanctions laid bare the false American push for negotiations with Iran, he stated.
Amiri also said that the US has stood against the Islamic community’s public opinion by blacklisting the office of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, because the Iranian leadership is not only a political and administrative post, but also a religious and spiritual authority whose followers are not confined to the Iranian borders alone.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s administration has plans for various conditions ahead. We will definitely work in such a way that the impact of sanctions would be foiled or minimized,” he concluded.
Last week, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing symbolic sanctions against Ayatollah Khamenei and a number of ranking military commanders, with another sanctions against Zarif expected in coming days.
The US sanctions were imposed after the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force on July 20 shot down an American spy drone that had violated the Iranian airspace.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has denounced the new US sanctions as a clear sign of Washington’s defeat, frustration, confusion, and intellectual disability.